Pine Forest Church and Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Pine Forest Church and Cemetery, out in Hopkins County. Pull up a chair, because this one goes back a good long ways. We're talkin' about a community that planted roots so deep, they're still holding.

Founded about 1855 in what folks called the Stout Creek neighborhood, this church got its start on a half-acre of land deeded by attorney Thomas Willison to a handful of trustees. And what a set of trustees they were. James S.

Stout led the group, the original owner of the Methodist church land and much of the surrounding area around it. He was the kind of man a community leans on, active in establishing schools, roads, and churches, and willing to serve in civic and military capacities besides. He brought in his brother-in-law, Andrew J.

Richey. Along with them stood William Truitt, William S. Fults, and Robert Hamilton.

Five men, one half-acre, and an idea about what a community ought to be. Now the cemetery came along with the church, and the earliest known grave there belongs to a man named John Minter. He arrived in the area in 1855, and by early 1856 he owned an interest in 26 acres of the original townsite, which in those days went by the name Saratoga.

Minter died in 1856. He barely had time to put down roots, and yet here his name sits, first among the remembered. The second person interred there was Robert Junell, a local landowner, who died in 1857.

Two graves, two years, and the land was already holding the community's story. Through the 1860s, school classes were held in a building right there on church property. Later on, classes and worship took place in the same structure, which tells you something about how pioneer folks made do, and made it matter.

In 1875, Joseph T. and Sarah A. Minter donated another one and a half acres to the church, specifically for community burial purposes. More land followed in 1883, and again in 1893.

The church was growin' right along with the people who needed it. The first recorded pastor of the Pine Forest Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was a man by the name of J. W.

Hunter, who served in 1894. Then comes the hard part. A flood in the 1940s reportedly washed away many gravestones.

Just gone. Names, dates, lives, carried off by water. The cemetery today holds more than 600 graves, and both the church and the cemetery are still active.

Still active. After everything, floods and time and more than a century of seasons, Pine Forest Church and Cemetery continue in the traditions of their pioneer founders. Some things, it turns out, are harder to wash away than stone.

What the marker says

Founded about 1855 in what was known as the Stout Creek neighborhood, this church was established on a half-acre of land deeded from attorney Thomas Willison to church trustees. The 1855 trustees included James S. Stout, the original owner of the Methodist church land and much of the surrounding area. He was active in establishing schools, roads and churches in the community and served in civic and military capacities. The other trustees were James Stout's brother-in-law, Andrew J. Richey, along with William Truitt, Williams S. Fults and Robert Hamilton. The earliest known grave in the cemetery adjoining the church property is that of John Minter, who arrived in the area in 1855. By early 1856, he owned an interest in 26 acres of the original townsite, then called Saratoga. Minter died in 1856. Robert Junell, local landowner, was the second person interred here when he died in 1857. School classes were held in a building on church property in the 1860s. Later, classes and worship took place in the same structure. Joseph T. and Sarah A. Minter donated another one and one-half acres to the church in 1875 for community burial purposes. Additional land was given in 1883 and again in 1893. The first recorded pastor of the Pine Forest Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was J. W. Hunter who served in 1894. The church and cemetery continued to serve throughout the 20th century. A flood in the 1940s reportedly washed away many gravestones. The cemetery contains more than 600 graves and, like the church, is still active. The Pine Forest Church and Cemetery continue in the traditions of their pioneer founders. (1999)